John Hewko, General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer
John Hewko is the general secretary and chief executive officer of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. Hewko leads a diverse staff of 800 at Rotary International’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and seven international offices. From 2004 to 2009, Hewko was vice president for operations and compact development for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance to the world’s poorest countries. At MCC, he was the principal negotiator for foreign assistance agreements to 26 countries in Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. During his tenure, he completed the negotiation of assistance agreements totaling $6.3 billion to 18 countries for infrastructure, agriculture, water and sanitation, health, and education projects. Prior to joining MCC, Hewko was an international partner with the law firm Baker & McKenzie, specializing in international corporate transactions in emerging markets. He helped establish the firm’s Moscow office and was the managing partner of its offices in Kyiv and Prague. While working in Ukraine in the early 1990s, Hewko assisted the working group that prepared the initial draft of the new Ukrainian post-Soviet constitution and was a charter member of the first Rotary club in Kyiv.
Hewko has been a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Hewko holds a law degree from Harvard University, a master’s in modern history from Oxford University (where he studied as a Marshall Scholar), and a bachelor’s in government and Soviet studies from Hamilton College in New York. He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.
He is available to speak in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Ukrainian on a variety of subjects, including Rotary’s priorities, its role in battling the loneliness epidemic, and the professional and personal benefits of Rotary membership.
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Olayinka Hakeem Babalola, Rotary International President, 2026-27
Olayinka Hakeem Babalola began his one-year term as RI president on 1 July 2026. He holds a degree in engineering and spent more than 30 years in the oil and gas sector, including senior leadership roles at Shell PLC. He founded the Riviera Technical Services Ltd., an oil and gas infrastructure delivery firm, as well as Lead and Change Consulting, an executive coaching and organizational performance consultancy.
Babalola is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, the Institute of Safety Professionals, and the Association of Change Management Practitioners. He also belongs to the Jericho Business Club, a civic organization in Ibadan that contributes to national policy dialogue.
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Larry Lunsford, Rotary International President, 2027-28
Larry Lunsford will begin his one-year term as RI president on 1 July 2027. A certified public accountant, Lunsford spent seven years working for Ernst & Young before joining a family-owned business, Bernstein-Rein Advertising, in 1990. He is currently executive vice president and chief financial officer for the Bernstein group of companies.
Lunsford is currently on the boards of Global Ties KC and the Church of the Resurrection Foundation. Previously, he has held positions on the boards of the Kansas City Spirit Festival and the Variety Club as well as serving as director of a local bank and treasurer of the Epilepsy Foundation for the Heart of America. He has also served on Truman State University’s alumni and foundation boards and received the university’s Distinguished Service Award.
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Jennifer Jones, Rotary Foundation Chair, 2026-27
Jennifer Jones is the Trustee Chair for The Rotary Foundation. Previously, Jennifer Jones served as president of Rotary International in 2022-23 and in doing so became the first woman to hold our highest elected office, 117 years after Rotary’s founding.
A communications executive, Jones is the founder of Media Street Productions Inc., an award-winning media company in Windsor, Ontario, that helps corporations and nonprofit organizations tell their stories with conviction and credibility. As an ambassador for Rotary, Jones has strengthened our reach and impact. She regularly collaborates with world leaders, celebrities, and well-known thinkers, and she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to eradicate disease, elevate education, support peace, and provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.
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Carol Pandak, Director, PolioPlus
Carol Pandak is the Director of Rotary International’s PolioPlus program serving as the liaison to the International PolioPlus Committee which provides policy guidance to the program. She also works alongside partners such as WHO, UNICEF, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Carol also serves on multiple committees and management groups of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Her work has taken her all over the world where she has participated in polio immunization campaigns and high-level technical meetings.
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